{"id":18678,"date":"2023-02-27T07:28:51","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T12:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=18678"},"modified":"2023-02-27T07:28:51","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T12:28:51","slug":"its-national-khachapuri-day-in-georgia-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=18678","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s National Khachapuri Day in Georgia!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(That\u2019s Georgia, the former USSR country, not Georgia, the US state of course!)<\/p>\n<p><em>(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)<\/em><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_3806-L-edited-1440-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_3806-L-edited-1440-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16998\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_3806-L-edited-1440-2.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_3806-L-edited-1440-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_3806-L-edited-1440-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_3806-L-edited-1440-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_3806-L-edited-1440-2-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nKhachapuri is a traditional Georgian bread filled with cheese and unequivocally one of the country\u2019s greatest culinary hits; the name leaves no doubt as to the nature of the dish: khacha means cheese curds, puri means bread. As a matter of fact, it\u2019s so universally beloved that the Gastronomic Association of Georgia created National Khachapuri Day, celebrated every February 27, to honor the dish as a symbol of the country\u2019s gastronomic culture and to promote culinary tourism in Georgia.<\/p>\n<p>Two of my favorites among at least a dozen types of khachapuri that I\u2019ve encountered are adjaruli and megruli.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7878-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Adjaruli-edited-1440.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7878-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Adjaruli-edited-1440.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16997\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7878-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Adjaruli-edited-1440.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7878-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Adjaruli-edited-1440-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7878-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Adjaruli-edited-1440-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7878-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Adjaruli-edited-1440-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7878-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Adjaruli-edited-1440-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nThis is adjaruli, filled with tangy, salty sulguni cheese and imeruli, a fresh crumbly cheese which when melted together combine to make stretchy, cheesy nirvana; recipes vary, but it\u2019s always delicious. It\u2019s shaped like a kayak, the center of which is filled with the cheese mixture; a raw egg and a chunk of butter are added just as it\u2019s removed from the oven. Stir the mixture: the egg cooks and combines with the butter and hot, melted cheese. Break off pieces of the bread and dip them into the cheese mixture. Now picture hot bread with melted buttery cheese that you eat with your hands, fresh out of the oven \u2013 what\u2019s not to like?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7876-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Megruli-edited-2-1440.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7876-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Megruli-edited-2-1440.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7876-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Megruli-edited-2-1440.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7876-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Megruli-edited-2-1440-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7876-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Megruli-edited-2-1440-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7876-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Megruli-edited-2-1440-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_7876-Old-Tbilisi-Garden-Megruli-edited-2-1440-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nMegruli is a little more self-contained: cheese bread filled with cheese and then topped with more cheese and baked. Did I mention cheese? Think Georgian stuffed pizza.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve never sampled these magnificent delicacies, you should definitely join one of my food tours through Brooklyn\u2019s Brighton Beach area, also known as Little Odessa, where we\u2019ll taste at least one kind of khachapuri \u2013 maybe even achma, a kind of decadent, buttery, cheesy, lasagna-like (but sans tomato sauce), Georgian comfort food. Tempted? Click on <a href=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?page_id=1227\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ethnojunkets<\/a> at the top of any page on my website for more information; now that the COVID-19 crisis appears to be waning and seasonal temperatures are waxing, my tours will be starting up soon. Hope to see you then! <\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>That\u2019s the former USSR country Georgia, not the US state Georgia, of course! Read on&#8230;. <a href=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=18678\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[60],"class_list":["post-18678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holidays","tag-georgian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18678"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18682,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18678\/revisions\/18682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}